CERTIFICATE COURSE ON ENFORCEMENT OF

FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS

Objective of the Course

Everyone must be well aware of their basic rights. The most basic right of all are the
Fundamental Rights that have been provided by our Constitution. It thus becomes highly
significant to know what are they, what significance do they have, where did they come from,
what do they mean etc. Similarly, if we look at the practicality it is very much essential to
understand about their enforcement. The Constitution makers have given powers to enforce
our Fundamental Rights to the High Courts as well as Supreme Courts and we need to
understand the reality about the enforcement of these Rights like the real instances, statistics,
reasons for non enforcement and suggestive reforms. Upon Completion of the Course, you
shall have the basic knowledge of Fundamental Rights alongside their History. Further, you
shall also be well acquainted with the practical reality of Writ Petitions and their enforcement
along with a comprehensive analysis of the same.

Course Completion

You shall receive a Certificate upon successful completion of the Course. It is pertinent to
note that Certificates shall only be sent when you successfully complete the Course – i.e.
Study all Modules and Submit the completed Assignments. The Submissions shall be made

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on or before the last date. No submission shall be considered after that. We shall send the
Certificates by 15th June to everyone i.e. within 15 days of the Course Completion.

The TOP PERFORMERS shall get an opportunity either to publish their task content on our
Website or Letter of Recommendation or Merit Certificate or Free Publication in our Journal
or Internship Opportunity to work with us at a very vital position or Opportunity to design the
Courses for hundreds of candidates.

Course Outline and Schedule

The Course has been designed in such a way that even a layman is able to comprehend the
contents of the Course. The table mentioned below contains the Content of the Course
divided into 4 Modules along with the dates they shall reach you, to provide a comprehensive
understanding :-

Module Module Date

no.
1. Introduction and History of 1st May
Fundamental Rights
2. Fundamental Rights in the Indian 6th May
Constitution
3. Enforcement of Writ Petitions 12th May
4. Comprehensive Analysis and 16th May
Suggestive Reforms
5. Assignment 18th May
6. Assignment Submission Last Date 30th May

We would now take this opportunity to begin the Course with Module 1 of the Course. All
the very best from our side. Take the Course seriously and study very well. Do the
assignments on time. Let us begin.

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Module 1: Introduction and History of
Fundamental Rights

Constitution is the supreme law of the land. It certainly is the most important legislation as all
other legislations depend upon it for their validity. There are various parts in the Constitution
comprising of numerous Articles. Specifically, the Constitution consisted of 22 parts and 395
Articles which have further increased. Not all parts may be equally important, however,
undoubtedly the Constitution consists of one of the most important part which is highly
significant when it comes to the existence of individuals in the territory of India. This is Part
3 of the Constitution consisting of the 6 basic Fundamental Rights.

Introduction

In everyday life we often talk of our rights. Rights are claimed not only in relation to our
political and public lives but also in relation to our social and personal relationship.
Moreover, rights are claimed not only for adult human beings but also for children, unborn
foetuses, and even animals.

In layman language it can be said that: A right is essentially an entitlement or a justified claim.

Right may be broadly classified into moral and legal rights. Moral rights are those rights
which are based on the prevailing ethical conceptions of society. They are not guaranteed by
the constitution. Whereas, Legal rights are those privileges which are guaranteed by the state
through the instrumentality of its legal code.

Legal rights are of two types:

Political Rights: Political rights are those privileges which are created by the Constitution and
various other laws of India, which give to the citizens a share in the exercise of the sovereign
power of the state.

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Example: Right to stand in an election or Right to vote in an election.

Fundamental rights: Those privileges which the nation confers upon its subjects by law and
which shall be protected in the courts. These rights are regarded as indispensable conditions
of civilized living.

Example – Right to Equality as mentioned in Article 14 of the Indian Constitution.

How Did Fundamental Rights came in India?

The origin of the concept of Fundamental Rights, which are also known as Natural Rights or
Human Rights or Basic Rights or Inalienable Rights, is based on the theory of Natural Law. 1
This theory states that there are certain rights which are provided by God to all individuals
since their birth and cannot be taken away by anyone except God. The inclusion of a chapter
on Fundamental Rights in the Constitution of India is in accordance with the trend of modern
democratic thought.2 The declaration of Fundamental Rights in the Constitution thus serves
the purpose of reminding the Government in power to respect those rights and limiting the
range of activity of the State in appropriate directions. 3

In India, the Simon commission and the joint parliamentary committee which were
responsible for the Government of India Act, 1935, had rejected the idea of enacting
declarations of fundamental rights on the ground that “abstract declarations are useless,
unless there exist the will and the means to make them effective”. But nationalist opinion,
since the time of the Nehru Report, was definitely in favour of a Bill of Rights, because the
experience gathered from the British regime was that a subservient Legislature might serve as
a handmaid to the Executive in committing inroads upon individual liberty.

Regardless of the British opinion, therefore, the makers of our Constitution adopted
fundamental Rights to safeguard individual liberty and also for ensuring (together with

1
William C. Harvard, The World Book Encyclopedia, Vol.4, 1972, p. 469.
2
West Verginia State Board of Education V . B a r n e t t e ?319 U.S. 624.
3
Dr. M.P. Sharma, Government of the Indian Republic, 1965, p. 41.
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Directive Principles) social, economic and political justice for every member of the
community. That they have succeeded in this testimony of an ardent observer of the Indian
Constitution.4

In the Constitution of India, Fundamental rights have been mentioned in part III under
Articles 12 to 35. Framers of the Constitution borrowed this from the Constitution of USA
(i.e., Bill of Rights). Part III of the Indian Constitution is also known as Magna Carta5 of
India.

Here it is important to note that :- The Fundamental Rights in our constitution are more
elaborated than those found in the Constitution of any other country in the world, including
that of the USA. They are guaranteed by the Constitution without any discrimination. They
are often titled the most sacred if not the most important part of the constitution.

The Fundamental Rights

Originally, there were seven fundamental rights in the Constitution of India, but in the 44th
Amendment Act, 1978, Right to Property (earlier article 31) remained no more a Fundamental
Right and became a legal right under Article 300A. So as of now, there are six fundamental
rights in the Constitution. They are:

4
Dr Durga Das Basu in his ‘Introduction to the Constitution of India’.
5
V.G. Ramchandran, Fundamental Rights and Constitutional R e m e d i e s , V o l . 1, 1964, p. 1.

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 Right to equality (Articles 14-18)

Right to freedom (Article 19-22)

Right against exploitation (Article 23-24)

Right to freedom of religion (Article 25-28)

Cultural and educational rights (Article 29-30)

Right to constitutional remedies (Article Article 32)

Importance of Fundamental Right in today’s scenario

Imagine, you are denied a seat in any regular college, or for no reason, you got arrested, or
you are restricted from the right to profess, practice or propagate your religion, or you
couldn't get a job because you belong to a particular caste or religion. Further, imagine that
the State makes a law to take your life away the very next day. How would you feel? Was
this unjust and unequal?

The Fundamental Rights are guaranteed to Indian citizens to safeguard them against such
practices. They are meant to protect us from such oppressive practices and also act as a
means to redress the violation of Fundamental Rights (The Right to Constitutional
Remedies). Without such laws in place, India could never be termed as democratic
country. Most of the Fundamental Rights are nothing more than common and reasonable
sense. They do not require wide Interpretation and uncountable case laws to comprehend
them, rather prudent sense plays a huge role in their comprehension.

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Every single human needs few basic rights in order to live with human dignity.
Fundamental rights are the package of those basic rights. There are certain more rights as
well like legal rights, constitutional rights, and etc. but none can be compared to
Fundamental Rights. Fundamental Rights constitute the backbone of the nation.

Though Fundamental Rights are not absolute and are subject to reasonable limitations but in
turn those reasonable restrictions are subject to judicial review.

Before ending this, let me ask you one question, did you ever thought that why one go to
court? To have compensations? To get other side punished? No. Then why?

Just because his/her fundamental rights gets violated. Yes. If one is getting beaten up or if
one is has been raped or if one is not allowed to sit in bus because he belongs to a
particular community or one is not allowed to enter in temple or mosque because of
gender. In this case, he or she will directly go to court to get fundamental rights enforced
and Court has to do the same.

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